Maidana (35-3, 31 knockouts ) floored Broner (27-1, 22 KOs) once each in the second and eighth rounds of a brutally physical unanimous decision victory on Dec. 14 on Showtime at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Broner could face Maidana as early as April 19 or April 26 at either the Alamodome or the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., which was a sellout for Maidana's sixth-round stoppage of Josesito Lopez in June of last year.

When they meet for the second time, Stafford said that Broner must not only dictate the pace earlier in the fight, but also sustain his offensive attack against Maidana, a 30-year-old whose relentless pressure, accurate punching and brawling and mauling style proved to be too much for his 24-year-old adversary.

Maidana landed 120 more overall punches (269-to-149) than Broner (27-1, 22 KOs), connected on 109 more power shots (231-to-122), and 11 more jabs (38-to-27). Maidana also punished Broner downstairs, where the Argentine connected on 101 body blows, according to statistics provided by Showtime statisticians.

"You know, Adrien, we're going to do it, this time," said Stafford of Broner, who lost 115-110, 116-109 and 117-109 on the cards of Judges Stanley Christodoulou, Nelson Vazquez and Levi Martinez, respectively.

"This time, Adrien can do it if he does early like he did in the later rounds. If Adrien starts out in the fight like he did in the later rounds, then he wins the fight. He can't have the second and eighth rounds. The second and the eighth rounds killed him."

Within a week of the fight's completion, Stafford said, "We knew that he was going to be strong for six or seven rounds, but we had him out a few times," adding, "Adrien just didn't pull the trigger. Definitely in the 11th round. I thought that maybe we could have had him out in the 12th."

"He got elbowed and there were different things…It wasn't no bad night, it was a bad first round…I had to settle him down because he had never been in that territory before," said Stafford. "He had never gotten hit like that, and when he did get hit like that, it was like, 'I want to retaliate and make it a street fight'…He's good, and he'll be back."